This invention pertains to horticultural devices, but more specifically, to an automatic watering device suitable for implantation in the soil of a variety of flower pots or the like.
Automatic watering devices for horticultural applications have been known in the art for some time. Such devices are useful for maintaining soil moisture and/or for feeding nutrients thereby to sustain the lift of a host plant in the soil. The most common type of automatic watering device consists of a soil container, e.g. a flower pot, which includes a built-in reservoir for holding water. The reservoir is filled through a feed tube and the fluid therein is typically drawn into the soil by way of capillary action through fibrous wicks, or by way of osmosis through a porous membrane. A major drawback, though, of the flower pot with the built-in reservoir is that it is expensive to fabricate and manufacture. In many instances, one does not desire to discard flower pots and planters already on hand in favor of replacing them with expensive self-watering devices for economic reasons or for reason of a desire to retain attractive planters.
In yet another type of self-watering device, a partition is introduced in the soil container to define at least a soil chamber and a water chamber. An obvious disadvantage of this combination is that the partition must necessarily be form-fitted with the soil container, and is therefore not suitable for being used with a variety of pot styles.
Prior art disclosures known by the inventor hereof which typify the aforementioned self-watering devices include U.S. Pat. No. 4,183,175 to Magee which shows a rigid supporting partition for defining a water chamber in the bottom of a soil container and a feed tube extending through the partition for providing means for replenishing water in the defined water chamber. Magee suffers the drawback that the partition must be specially form-fitted with the soil container and therefore, is expensive to fabricate and manufacture, as well as being limited in application since flower pots already on hand cannot be used if one is to employ the Magee device.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,342,786 illustrates an earlier type of automatic watering system wherein a conventionally appearing flower pot merely rests upon an externally disposed water reservoir containing an absorbent material in contact with the soil through an orifice located in the bottom of the flower pot. Assuming there is sufficient contact between the absorbent material and the soil, the host plant should receive an adequate supply of moisture and/or nutrients. Such a device can be cumbersome in handling, inefficient in water distribution, and somewhat restricted in the size of flower pots with which it may be adapted.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,250,665 to English et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 3,958,366 to Meyers both disclose water reservoirs specially adapted to a soil container with which it is attached, and further include wicks for drawing water from the reservoir through capillary action. It is quite apparent that they also suffer some of the same aforementioned drawbacks and disadvantages. Another feature ideally suited for such watering devices is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,171,593 to Bigglestone, U.S. Pat. No. 3,739,524 to Rose, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,871,131 to Berglund. These latter three references show a float gauge extending in what might be called a feed tube. The float gauge provides a visual indication of the water level in the reservoir.
The prior art is replete with examples of partitions, an integrally formed flower pot/water reservoir, and externally disposed reservoirs, but none of the prior art show an implantable reservoir having the features of the present invention.